The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-05-26

and faculties and powers. / think, in
the brief analysis that have been able /
to give you of this subject that you win i
conclude with me that the theory OF i
voting Is an inalienable and unborn i
right . untenable, and that society has /
always held that it was privilege to i
be conferred only upon those who l
would exercise it for the public welfare /
and for the general happiness. What
has suffrage been conditioned upon? 1t /
has been
CONDITIONED UPON NATIVITY,
upon sex, upon religion, upon rank,
upon military service, upon residence /
and upon intelligence. but they never i
have in all the records of all the civili- 1
cations, from the dawn of history down /
to the present time, any recognition |
in any shape whatever that
suffrage was the right of citizen on
account OF his citizenship. Why do we
deny the right of the minors to vote in |
this state, why do men say that no man
shall vote till he is q years of age.
Every one knows that there are plenty
OF young men 20 years Of age just as
competent to vote as / am, men who
own property, men who are intelligent.
Why has society not allowed these to
vote IL suffrage is an Unborn, inalien-
able right? If it is an Unborn, inalien-
able right, why has society not allowed
it to be exercised by everyone who
can prove himself to have the
NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS OF A
VOTERp
but we even go further than this.
because Ii suffrage is an Unborn and
natural right, then the argument of
those who claim that women should be
allowed to vote falls to the ground.
The Supreme Court of the United
= I,.A l..
right; that the right of citizen to
vote is neither legal nor constitutional
right; that it is privilege conferred by
the state for reasons that seem best to
the state. The Supreme Court of the
State of Massachusetts has also held
the same way upon similar question
INVOLVING THIS WHOLE CONTRO-
..rherefors.' t saw We NAV regard it
as being finally established that the
claim that suffrage is natural and in
alienable right of acitizen has no foun-
dation in fact. AS a citizen of
the Union and of the state of
Kansas called upon to decide for our
selves upon the question whether or
not there should be an indefinite eX-
tension of the right of suffrage to
classes that are not now included,
wish to invite your attention to few
considerations that appear to me to
Justify the action of those who found
themselves unable to give their sup
port to the sixteenth amendment pro-
posed to the constitution of the United
States, and first, l am inclined to be-
lieve that the suffrage in this country
has been
EXTENDED TO THE EXTREME LIMIT
of safety at the present time. For
more than fifty years as nation we
have been standing on the Seashore
and on the mountain top singing, Hail
Columbia, happy land every band
playing Yankee Doodle and declar-
ing that this was the asylum for the
oppressed and the homeless of all
nations, inviting immigration from
every corner of the earth, and as soon
as an emigrant arrived, giving him a
quarter section of land and the right to
vote, until at this time there are not
less than 100000 unskilled labOrers
in this country, more than we have any
capacity to employ, and we have
so far exhausted the public domain
in our injudicious distribution thereof,
that in ten years from this time there
will not be an acre of land on which
wheat or corn can be raised without
irrigation, subject to distribution under
the homestead OF pre-emptiOn law.
Emigration at the rate of from 800, 900
to million per annum is pouring in
upon our shores, embracing nihiliStS
and socialists and anarchists and COM
munists, cOngregating in our great
cities, and even now
RALLYING UNDER THE RED FLAG,
and threatening the perpetuity and
safety of constitutional liberty. And
yet if this proposed sixteenth amend
ment to the constitution should be
adopted as proposed by the advocates
of this theory, we are not only to en-
franchise the males of this vast aggre-
cation that have thronged upon our
shores, but we are to give every woman
that comes from every quarter of the
earth the same privilege we give to men
unlettered, illiterate, ignorant, without
| information enough TO understand our
| institutions, or with no capacity to
| read our language; my impression is
that this is not wise or prudent. 1
| think it would be injudicious in the eX-
IRENE, and rather than invite as we
are doing immigration to this country
without compelling one here to depart,
am confident it would be a wise
measure to prevent by proper legisla-
| ton all immigration from other coun-
tries on this earth for the next twenty
| five years, [great applausel and allow
the great mass of people now here to
/ assimilate and become blended and
welded together, to become schooled
anu OuuCdIcu III bIlc pOtlGICdl pldCIOrIn
| and our jury systems, and our national
institutions and until we should have
| great mass of homogeneous American
citizens that would say to all nations of
| the earth, This continent has been
RESERVED FOR AMERICANS.
| from the North Pole to the tropic-
lGreat applause.
One common argument that is in
| sisted upon with great force by the adj
Ofa Sc,
| the Fifteenth Amendment to the Con-
StitutiOn of the United States which
enfranchises the slaves, or rather the
freedmen, who have been slaves. 1t
was logical to allow the freedmen to
vote, if there is any logic in politics,
but the logic of votes. 1t seems in
disputably right that if Rebels were
there was only one way to
enable the freedmen to defend them
selves, and to enable them to defend
themselves they should be armed with
the ballot. The Fifteenth Amendment
was war measure, and those who ap-
peal to that right for the purpose of es.
tablishing the rights of women to vote
are in my Judgment exceedingly I'M
fortunate, for in the light of events for
the last twenty years / have no hest
fancy whatever in declaring that negro |
suffrage in this country has been an alb |
SolGte and unequaled failure.
That is a statement of considerable |
breadth. 1t is statement that may
perhaps be regarded as having some /
political aspect, but, repeat it, and 1 /
want my statements considered in the |
light of the argument / have made as
to the conditions and requirements of |
suffrage. l repeat that negro suffrage
in this country has been an absolute,
unqualified failure. 1t has been fail
ure in the country at large. 1t has been
a failure in the Southern States. IL
has been a failure in its effects upon
the whites. 1t has been failure in
its effects upon the blacks, and it has
been a failure SO far as the prospects of
that party are concerned who it was
hoped would be benefited by it. The
condition of the blacks in the South /
was about to say, was worse than when
they were in slavery. The ballot in
stead of being an instrument to enable